Rage Against the Machines song Guerrilla Radio is a song that I feel represents the meaning of a protest song. As I wrote in my first listen post the whole band encompasses protesting. The band is known for their songs that go speak out against certain actions and events that are relevant during the time. The specific event that Guerrilla Radio was written to address was the 2000 US presidential election. It goes into how the media portrayed both candidates. I was intrigued by this song because I was familiar with a few of their other songs and was fascinated by the style of music they produced. It was an evolutionary step in alternative music in my opinion because it does not fit into the stereotypical style of that genre. Zach de La Rocha’s choice to rap the words instead of singing them was interesting for the time. He was doing something that to my knowledge was not being done. There are bands now that fit into this type of Rage style, but their lyrics are not as meaningful as those written by La Rocha. I feel that he did this purposefully to rap it in a style as if he were yelling it in a protest for others to hear and listen too. The beats are very strong too and fit into a what one may think of as alternative music which includes fast passed drums and loud guitar licks. Something else that I found interesting was how in videos of the band doing live performances their audiences were repeating the verses, but I would like to find out how many of them were actually listening to what the lyrics were saying. The band talked a lot about being able to make your own choices using your own process of thought. This is evident in songs such as Guerrilla Radio when you look at the lyrics De La Rocha is painting a picture that the media is painting a specific picture of both candidates that hide their flaws and mistakes.

Guerrilla Radio was released on the late ’90s and this was a good age for hip-hop style music and there were other songs that talked about similar issues. I would be interested to see the different protest songs that came out during the same era. I also found that there were other songs that mentioned the 2000 election so I would definitely be interested in seeing other protest songs about the same event. As I said before I would be interested if there were any other bands that had a style like Rage because the only band that I could think of would be the Beastie Boys, but their music was more hip-hop than alternative. I think doing that research would lead me to investigate a style of music that I have not explored yet which does excite me. I am also excited to get to look more into Rage as a band and listen to more songs by them. They are a band that I only listened to a few songs about but think that listening to Guerrilla Radio and songs like it would be worthwhile. I think that it is necessary to listen to these songs multiple times to truly gain an understanding of what is being said. I believe this for two reasons, the first is because the lead singer has a tendency to mumble some of his verses, so it is hard to understand that way but also because their lyrics are straightforward and include views of the world that differ from the status quo. The only concern I have comes from their lyrics being so straightforward that aspect can make it hard to be able to dig deeper when the artists’ views aren’t hidden within lyrics. However, I do believe that I would be able to talk about the choice of lyrics and the musical choices and performances of the band. Overall this song and band excite me, and I am more than willing to look more into what this song brings to the table as a protest song.